DailyDirt: Is Mixing Science And Journalism A Bad Recipe?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Facts aren't always as reliable as they seem -- that's been a consistent theme here. And we're always interested in folks double-checking facts -- especially if it leads to a better understanding of how things work. When the process of verifying experiments or stories is blocked, everyone loses out. The conversation to clarify knowledge should be allowed to evolve, and generally science is pretty good about verifying experiments. But when it fails, it's usually a spectacular failure. Let's hope that arsenic NMR or proper mass spectrometry measurements will prevail in determining whether life can survive without phosphorous around.

Re: Since when do you peer review a discovery?

Hi Darryl,

This publication WAS peer reviewed... so I'm not sure what you're talking about? In any case, discoveries are also certainly subject to peer review. There are TONS of things that peers can say when they review a discovery -- in fact, many of the critiques that have been published after the arsenic-life announcement mentioned that their suggestions SHOULD have been part of peer review before the paper was published.

And actually, many papers that don't get anywhere near as much attention are also "discoveries" -- and get peer reviewed before publication. Many "discoveries" are rejected in that process as well....

"...generally science is pretty good about verifying experiments. But when it fails, it's usually a spectacular failure."

I'm not sure what you mean by that. It's not science what fails. Science is the best tool we have to evaluate theories. These can be confirmed/discarded as evidence amounts in favour/against. Science has a self-correcting built-in mechanism. Hence, science never fails. Theories do.

"Peer-review either isn't what it used to be -- or it's never quite as good as people think it should be."

I think you're missing the point. There have always been different levels of quality when it comes to peer review. It can be a never ending process. The arsenic bacteria research being heavily criticised is absolute standard. These things happen all the time. It's in the nature of the scientific method and it's not a failure. It's the self-correcting mechanism in action. The press likes sensationalistic headlines. Don't fall for it.

When it comes to science news it might be better to read the headlines and head for the source. Science journalism looks plagued by writers who never took a science class, who mislead and who need sensationalistic headlines to sell. There's a very healthy science blogosphere out there. No need to waste time with the rest of the media.

Re: Re: Since when do you peer review a discovery?

Re: Can I Suggest You Donít Use URL Shorteners?

Lawrence... not sure if you've noticed, but I've put the full URLs at the end of each blurb.

I'm using bitly links because I like to see how many people click-through on the links (so I can get a vague idea of how popular a topic is). The stats will eventually influence what topics I choose for future posts.

Not sure why people hate bitly links so much... especially when the full URLs are provided. But if people REALLY hate them, we'll try to look for alternatives. (Any suggestions on how to track clicks without using a URL shortener?)

Re: Never fails?

Science does have self-correcting mechanisms.. but I still think it can fail at times. I don't think any human endeavor is immune to failure or mistakes.

In this particular case, I think the standard process of publishing a paper free of "big errors" wasn't exactly followed. It happens all the time, I know. But for articles that have less impact, no one cares too much. For this arsenic lifeform story, the evidence should have been scrutinized a bit more.

Science by press release has become a handy propaganda tool especially in the service of promoting the urgency of public health over individual self autonomy.

In the area of tobacco control, apparently serious studies are used to generate press releases with a summary of headline generating conclusions. By the time the actual study is released and it is possible to validate or debunk the already publicized result, it's too late to correct the damage done. Corrections don't generally drive headlines.

Tobacco control in the United States and the UK use this amoral propaganda technique with clear conscience, reasoning that tobacco use is too destructive to merit any real discussion of objective truth. The debate, they claim, is over.

Public health campaigns in the works to denormalize alcohol use/abuse and food related disorders including the most visible, obesity, can be expected to follow the tobacco control model.

While there may be some small value in study based reportage, the temptation to propagandize society for its own good and the willingness of the media to incorporate press release science into their own narratives only serve to misinform whether by accident or by intent.

Science by press release as commonly used today should be discouraged and avoided at every turn. Propaganda should never be used to persuade the public no matter how important the issue is to any given group.

Tobacco lies may be fine with those who agree with its ultimate removal from society, but the temptation to accept any morals based or flexible truth for convenience leads to more effective lies, such acceptance only serves to further muddy the waters and encourage special pleading. At least that's what I have observed.

I hope those who create, review and publish studies will resist the poisoning the well one press release at a time. Let the facts fall where they may, and let that, not ideology, drive the conclusion.

Vote based funding for future studies? That's a gag entry, right? Just as the results of a study are not determined by popular vote expressing what the results should have been.

Vote based funds dispersal, assuming it could even produce the best possible result, would only encourage corruption of the voting process.

It's something to be considered and debated, and ultimately discarded. Some form of vote based rating system that tracks popularity but does not prioritize or allocate funds could still be a useful organizational tool however.

Re: Re: Re: Since when do you peer review a discovery?

That's not a record - that's standard operating procedure.

And that isn't even new...for those of us who remember Dorpus (may he live forever,) he was maintaining this standard operating procedure religiously 5 years ago or so (and for all we know, he may still be here.)

Re: Re: Can I Suggest You Donít Use URL Shorteners?

I understand the URL shorteners introduce an additional point of failure, but bitly says it's going to try to archive is shortened links in a way that even if it goes down, the links will still be accessible... not sure when they'll actually deliver on that goal, but at least they're trying?

Also, as long as bitly is operational, you can see what the original link is by adding a "+" to the end of the shortened URL.http://bit.ly/pages/help#i_3_4

On top of that, I've included the original URL at the end of each blurb.... and those won't go away either.